A WITTY INTERLUDE

“I knew there would be a row,” confessed the Prime Minister naively, “when I made these appointments.” But again he asked his critics to name better men for the posts. He admitted the violence of the prejudice against them; but he described one as “a man of genius for news,” and in defence of Lord Beaverbrook he said that his Canadian propaganda was a most remarkable piece of work,” and that he had been the first to utilise the cinema for Canadian propaganda with marvellous success in the United States. As no one answered the Prime Minister’s invitation to tell him of better men, he begged the House to let the Department get on with its business without being assailed by further abuse. And he also reminded members that newspapers were possibly much more watchful of and more sensitive to public opinion than they were. By far the most successful speech of the day from the back benches came from Mr SL Hughes. It was praised by Mr Asquith as one of “extraordinary wit and charm.” Following the serious, almost portentous speech of Mr Chamberlain, with its dark suggestions of intrigue and hidden hands, it achieved the greater triumph, and, in fact, solved the greater part of the problem at issue with a general roar of delighted laughter. Assuming that the appointment of a Minister of Propaganda was desirable, Mr Hughes observed that the best man for the post must obviously be one who was not afflicted with what Dr Johnson called “needless scrupulosity,” and he then went on to illustrate why this particular defect was not likely to interfere with the success of the recent appointments. Mr Hughes handled his theme with great frankness, and his main conclusion was that a very ridiculous fuss had been made. The shouts of laughter which greeted his mordant personalities dissipated the atmosphere of intrigue and suspicion with which the discussion had begun.